Measured and perceived visual complexity: a comparative study among three online map providers

We present a study on human perception of map complexity, with the objective of better understanding design decisions that may lead to undesirable levels of complexity in web maps. We compare three complexity metrics to human ratings of complexity obtained through a user survey. Specifically, we use two algorithmic approaches published by others, which measure feature congestion (FC) and subband entropy (SE), as well as our own approach of counting object types rather than individual objects. We compare these metrics with each other as well as with human complexity ratings for three maps of the same area from map providers Google Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap. Each map design is assessed at three different scales (levels of detail). We find that (1) the FC and SE metrics appear to be adequate predictors of what humans consider complex; (2) object-type counts are slightly less successful at predicting human-rated complexity, implying that clutter is more important in perceived complexity than diversity of symbology; and (3) generalization choices do impact human complexity ratings. These findings contribute to our understanding of what makes a map complex, with implications for designing maps that are easy to use.     

Design principles for origin-destination flow maps

Origin-destination flow maps are often difficult to read due to overlapping flows. Cartographers have developed design principles in manual cartography for origin-destination flow maps to reduce overlaps and increase readability. These design principles are identified and documented using a quantitative content analysis of 97 geographic origin-destination flow maps without branching or merging flows. The effectiveness of selected design principles is verified in a user study with 215 participants. Findings show that (a) curved flows are more effective than straight flows, (b) arrows indicate direction more effectively than tapered line widths, and (c) flows between nodes are more effective than flows between areas. These findings, combined with results from user studies in graph drawing, conclude that effective and efficient origin-destination flow maps should be designed according to the following design principles: overlaps between flows are minimized; symmetric flows are preferred to asymmetric flows; longer flows are curved more than shorter or peripheral flows; acute angles between crossing flows are avoided; sharp bends in flow lines are avoided; flows do not pass under unconnected nodes; flows are radially distributed around nodes; flow direction is indicated with arrowheads; and flow width is scaled with represented quantity.     

基于自组织映射的长江中下游夏季天气分型及其降水特征

利用欧洲中心1979—2015年夏季6—8月ERA-Interim逐日再分析资料和国家气候中心CN05.1格点化降水观测数据集,引入基于自组织映射SOM(Self-Organizing Maps)方法进行长江中下游地区夏季海平面气压空间距平场的客观分型,得到该地区25种地面天气型及其系统演变特征,发现天气型的稳定、转移与天气系统强弱有关。高低压系统越强,天气型停滞频率越高,天气型越稳定;反之,天气型越不稳定。基于SOM天气型转移概率,发现三条与局地降水联系的系统演变路径,其中1号路径暖空气势力强盛,副高北上,推动锋面北抬,产生江北降水型,多发生在7月;路径2反映冷空气势力强盛推动锋面南下的天气过程,产生沿江降水型,该天气型在6、7月均易发生;路径3表现为台风移动变化对长江下游江南地区降水的影响,为江南降水型,且集中在8月。通过引入SOM方法对逐日天气尺度环流进行分型,从气候态上捕捉与降水有关的天气系统的移动变化特征,体现SOM方法在模拟天气系统演变的优势。     

北大西洋地区气候准20年周期的观测和模拟分析

北大西洋地区除了存在约70 a周期的AMO（Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation,北大西洋年代际振荡）之外,历史长期气候记录中英格兰温度（Central England Temperature,CET）与格陵兰冰芯净雪累计率还存在显著的20 a周期波动。本研究利用CCSM4（Community Climate System Model version 4）耦合模式工业革命前控制试验（piControl）结果中的海表面温度（Sea Surface Temperature,SST）,通过10～50 a带通滤波与扩展经验正交函数（Extended Empirical Orthogonal Function,EEOF）分解,得到在北大西洋副极地海区存在准20 a振荡的逆时针旋转模态。此周期与其临近地区的CET、格陵兰冰芯净雪累计率的准20 a振荡周期相吻合,说明这种北大西洋副极地海区准20 a振荡的海洋模态与其临近地区的大气准20 a振荡之间可能存在相应的联系。进一步利用CAM4（the Community Atmosphere Model version4）大气模式,以北大西洋副极地海区准20 a振荡SST旋转模态为强迫场进行敏感性试验,进一步验证了这种联系。     

地图的哲学内涵及其作用探讨

通过分析哲学和地图本质特征之间的关联,探讨了地图的哲学内涵及其在实现地图目的中起到的作用,尝试在通过地图认识世界、改造世界的探索道路上寻根溯源,从强化根基的角度使地图在新时代发挥更大的作用.     

陈代光教授对岭南历史地理研究的贡献

陈代光教授是我国一位著名历史地理学者.文章主要论述其在岭南广州、港澳、雷州等城市、南海海上丝绸之路交通、区域历史地理、广东历史地图集编纂、地名、中国历史地理教材建设、历史地理人才培养,以及历史地理为社会经济发展服务等方面的学术成就和重要贡献,以作为对陈代光教授的一种纪念,同时唤起社会各界对这门又古又今、既要看书、又要走路的学科的关注.     

1958-2017年太湖蒸发量年际变化趋势及主控因子

湖泊蒸发对气候变化非常敏感,是水文循环响应气候变化的指示因子,因此研究湖泊蒸发的控制因素,对于理解区域水文循环有重要意义.本文利用太湖中尺度涡度通量网避风港站观测数据校正JRA-55再分析资料,驱动CLM4.0-LISSS模型,并利用2012-2017年涡度相关通量数据和湖表面温度数据检验模型模拟蒸发结果,验证了该模型在太湖的适用性;估算了1958-2017年间太湖的湖面蒸发量,并利用Manner-Kendall趋势检验分析了湖面蒸发的变化趋势,寻找太湖实际蒸发的年际变化的主控因子.结果如下:校正后的JRA-55再分析资料模拟的太湖蒸发与观测值之间存在季节偏差,但是季节偏差在年尺度上相互抵消,再分析资料可用于年际尺度太湖蒸发变化的模拟;1958-2017年间太湖蒸发量以1977年为界,先下降(-3.6 mm/a),后增加(2.3 mm/a);多元逐步回归结果表明,向下的短波辐射是太湖1958-2017年间太湖蒸发变化的主控因子,向下的长波辐射、气温、比湿也对湖泊蒸发年际变化有一定影响,但是风速对蒸发量的年际变化影响不大.     

Characteristics of bottom dissolved oxygen in Long Island Sound,New York

The variability of bottom dissolved oxygen (DO) in Long Island Sound, New York, is examined using water quality monitoring data collected by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection from 1995 to 2004. Self-organizing map analysis indicates that hypoxia always occurs in the Narrows during summer and less frequently in the Western and the Central Basins. The primary factor controlling the bottom DO, changes spatially and temporally. For non-summer seasons, the levels of bottom DO are strongly associated with water temperature, which means DO availability is primarily driven by solubility. During summer, stratification intensifies under weak wind conditions and bottom DO starts to decrease and deviate from the saturation level except for stations in the Eastern Basin. For the westernmost and shallow (<15 m) stations, bottom DO is correlated with the density stratification (represented by difference between surface and bottom density). In contrast, at deep stations (>20 m), the relationship between oxygen depletion and stratification is not significant. For stations located west of the Central Basin, bottom DO continues to decrease during summer until it reaches its minimum when bottom temperature is around 19–20 °C. In most cases the recovery to saturation levels at the beginning of fall is fast, but not necessarily associated with increased wind mixing. Therefore, we propose that the DO recovery may be a manifestation of either the reduced microbial activity combined with the depletion of organic matter or horizontal exchange. Hypoxic volume is weakly correlated to the summer wind speed, spring total nitrogen, spring chlorophyll a, and maximum river discharge. When all variables are combined in a multiple regression, the coefficient of determination (r²) is 0.92. Surprisingly, the weakest variable is the total nitrogen, because when it is excluded the coefficient r² only drops to 0.84. Spring bloom seems to be an important source of organic carbon pool and biological uptake of oxygen plays a more crucial role in the seasonal evolution of bottom DO than previously thought. Our results indicate that the reassessment phase of the Long Island Sound Total Maximum Daily Load policy on nitrogen loading will most likely fail, because it ignores the contributions of the spring organic carbon pool and river discharge. Also, it is questionable whether the goal of 58.5% anthropogenic nitrogen load reduction is enough.     

读《古典文献论丛》

《古典文献论丛》集中了赵逵夫先生近二十年来在文献学领域的研究成果,在文献学理论、出土文献、敦煌文献、宋前戏剧文献、诗赋文献等方面贡献颇多。这部论文集充分体现了赵逵夫先生厚重的传统目录学观念、在历史文献研究中清晰的历史概念和在宏观视野下进行微观研究的学术理念。     

面向汉语的自然语言路径描述方法

自然语言路径描述是运用日常生活中人们习惯的语言方式和思维方式来表达路径信息的。而可视化描述和自然语言描述相结合,可以使电子地图向用户提供图文并茂的路径查询服务。目前,电子地图在移动设备和Internet日益普及,自然语言路径描述成为电子地图大众化和人性化服务的重要标志之一。因此,路径描述中需要重点解决空间关系的自然语言描述问题。自然语言中空间关系描述的语言特征与心理学和认知语言学有着非常密切的关系。本文描述了针对汉语的路径描述词汇库的结构与内容,并根据汉语特点设计了路径描述的单元和复合句法模式,以解决词汇受限和句法模式单一的问题,提出了道路名称、沿途标志性地物和方向判断等路径描述补充信息的获取方法,以增加路径描述的可理解性。并以南京市电子地图为例,开发了电子地图查询原型系统。该系统能够在地图上可视化显示最短路径的同时,自动生成该路径的自然语言描述。